Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-04-21
ABOUT CONVERSATION.
A Rare Gift Which Should Be
Wisely Used.
The Value of Silence-Don't "TaIk Shop
or Slang-The Pedant a Great
Bore-a Boston Plan
Discussed.

liz was wise man who SAID that "the
best of life is conversation" BY this
he meant that in all the realm of
pleasure there is no more soul-satisfy-
ing entertainment than that of oral
discourse. What a dreary routine our
lives would be if we were bereft of the
powers of speech, and could communi-
cate with one another only by signs
and symbols, spending our days in a
pantomimic dumb show with sealed
lips! Books, music, the beauties of
nature, the treasures of art, would lose
somewhat of their piquancy and charm
if we could not talk about them. if
the lips were mute. The gift of ex-
preston is talisman that sways more
people than the scepter of kings. The
spell and power of the spoken word is
greater than any enchantment that
Turks in the devices of art.
We value our friends for the instruc-
tion they give us, and the entertain
ment they afford in conversation. The
good talker carries passport to the
highest councils. A homely visage
loses its ugliness when we are moved by
the oracle of the lips. The idea may
be old, the truth oft spoken, but, as
Lowell says:
"Though old the thought and oft exprest,
'Ts his at last who says it best"
The man who converses well always
finds latch-string waiting to be pulled
at side door. If he lives in an attic,
who would not sit down with him
at a pine table and find his surround
ings more luxurious than the tapestried
walls of an old-world palacep
But the best takers know the value
of silence. II they do not disdain triv-
ial subjects, they are not absorbed by
them. 1t is their aim to instruct as
we'll as amuse. As much depends
upon the tone, the gestures. the earn
estness, the modulation of the voice,
the power of concentration, as upon
the selection of topics and choice Of
words. We are more likely to forgive
slips of grammar than pedantry, if the
idea "sparkles like salt in fire." The
most searching test is sincerity. If q
sincere man, the wood-chopper, who
has meyer seen the inside of a school.
house, may become an oracle among
men. The courage to face fact, the
ease with which he handles a subject,
the clearness of his vision, the pith OF
his sentences, the absence of rhetorical
effort in his discourse. put the rhetori'
clan TO his foils. II was Cato who said
that he seldom spoke unless he had
something to say that deserved to be
known. Small talk is diverting, and
humor seasons the best discourse. But
these are apt to become fatiguing i
continued to excess. Many people talk
to as little purpose as the foolish spider
spins its silken meshes near the search.
ing broom of an Industrious housewife
When we listen to their harangues, we
say. with Hamlet: "Words, words
wordsr
Good conversation is as invigoratins
as bracing atmosphere on a mount
ain-top. 1t infuses new life in thu
veins. The best dinner loses its savol
if there is no table-talk. An eloquen
talker is as instructive as a goot
book, and what he says fingers longe1
in the memory. When Madam d.
Stael asked the Compile de Segur whicl
he liked best, her conversations or he
writings, he rer'ied: ''Your conver
sations, madame, for then you hav'
not the leisure to become obscure.
siThoreau, in his hut on Walden Pond
spoke of his New England Nights En-
2 tertainments, when poet sought hin
oM in his seclusion. and the converse
ton Expanded and racked his littl
house" Such is the power of oral ut
terance that it is related of a giftet
woman who seldom left the circle Of he
friends to shed her influence abroad
that her presence was like "the SUI
shining upon plants, and causing bud
to open into flowers" l."
Man is the only talking animal am
therefore he should not abuse the gift
Words were invented as the vehicle
ideas Such as fail for that purpose
though full of music and shining wit
light, are useless and redundant A
easy conversational style is better tha
one that is labored and pedantic, an
every body knows that the art OF ilsten
ing is no mean requirement. A goo
rule of practice was laid down Q
Joseph de Maistre, when he said; .
am very beokish in the walls OF m